With this being Memorial Day, I am grateful for:All of our troops overseas, who are sacrificing to keep us free.- The families of all the troops, for the sacrifices they are making, allowing their family members to be over there assuring our freedom.
- Veterans of all wars, for their honor and dedication to our country.
- My Dad, a WWII Veteran, who earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in rescuing a downed plane during his Air Force service.
- Living in America; in spite of all our problems, I still believe this is the best place to be. Ever.
Please keep our military personnel in your thoughts and prayers today, as well as the families they have left behind.Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.
Saturday morning, Mr. Dizzy was scheduled to work overtime. When he left, he didn't see the kitten in the garage but figured it was hiding behind something. Later that morning, I left to go grocery shopping; I also didn't see the kitten. When I got back from shopping, still no kitten...what the...? Did it slip out somehow? I was pretty concerned. So, when Mr. Dizzy came home from work, we started searching through the garage. No kitten. We started tearing everything away from the walls; still no luck. We spent almost 2 hours tearing things apart, with no kitten in sight. We were pretty dejected, thinking it had slipped out and we would never find it.Mr. Dizzy was on his hands and knees, pushing something back beside our big upright freezer, when suddenly he noticed something.....under the freezer, behind the grate, was a pair of green eyes. That's all he could see, just green eyes. (Well, it WAS dark under there, and the kitten was black.) He tried knocking on the grate to scare it out from under there, with no luck. Finally, he got something narrow that would fit between the grate and started carefully poking around in there, so as not to hurt it. The kitten finally crawled out the back of the freezer, into my waiting hands. And it's a good thing I had heavy leather gloves on! It was scared to death, biting the glove, clawing, but as I held it, it stopped and just laid there in my hands, its little heart just pounding. We got the kitten inside the house and put it in the back bathroom, where it would be safe from the other cats, and shut it inside. Next, we moved the litter box, rugs, blanket, and food/water into the bathroom so it would have all the necessities. Mr. Dizzy went off to Menard's to get a pet gate for the doorway so we wouldn't have to keep the door shut and have the poor thing totally isolated; it had gone through enough trauma in its short life already. While he was gone, I shut myself in there with the kitten and sat there on the floor, talking softly to it. I could not get him to come near me, but it did sit there and listen to my voice, and seemed to calm down a bit.Mr. Dizzy got home with the pet gate, and we put it in the doorway. It was a very high gate; the size for large dogs, so we figured that would keep it in the room and our two furbabies out. We kept going back checking on the kitten periodically, just to make sure it was okay, and just talking to it to try to get it used to us.Finally, we headed off to bed, hoping that the little thing would be okay during the night, but knowing that with that big pet gate, it would be safe and secure.Or so we thought! (Silly us!)Around 2:00 AM, Mr. Dizzy woke up feeling something on his feet. He raised up his head and looked around the bed; our two cats were both asleep on my side of the bed . . . and the little kitten was on the bed, sitting on Mr. Dizzy's feet! He started sitting up, and the kitten got scared and jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. We got up and looked around, but we could not find it. So, we took down the pet gate (since it obviously didn't keep him in!) so that it could reach the food/water and litter box, and went back to bed.We could tell this was going to be quite a ride.....To be continued.....
It was a very cold Thursday night last February. Mr. Dizzy and I were in the living room watching TV, when he thought he heard something outside. He went to the window and looked out - - there was a tiny little black kitten. We live in a rural setting, with no neighbors, so we knew he had to have been dumped out. He was worried about it, with it being so cold outside, so he headed out to look for it. He tried coaxing it to him with food, but no luck. He tried to get ahold of it to put it inside somewhere warmer, but it was scared and got away. Finally, Mr. Dizzy couldn't take the cold any more, so he came in, got some food, and put the food outside for the poor little thing.Next morning, the food was gone. At least we knew it got something to eat. We put out more food, and got ready to go to work. When I came home from work, the food was gone, but no sign of the poor little thing. Well, at least we knew it wasn't starving.That evening it got very cold; in fact, the wind chill was 11 degrees. We noticed that our two cats, Carmichael and Squeak, were sitting right at the window that runs alongside the front door; they were glued to that window, and no amount of coaxing could get them away. We turned on the porch light - - and there was the tiny little black kitten, standing at the window looking in at my two cats, meowing for all it was worth. Even from the front bay windows, we could tell it was shivering and miserable. My heart just broke.Mr. Dizzy bundled up and went outside to try to coax it again, but the minute he stepped around the corner of the house, the poor frightened little creature took off to hide. Mr. Dizzy came back inside - - and the little thing came right back to the porch.I couldn't take much more of this - - something had to be done. So I opened up the front door, got down on my knees, and held open the storm door just a bit (well, it was COLD!)(and WINDY!). I started talking to the little kitty and trying to coax it in. It kept stepping back and forth, scared to come in, but cold and miserable. Finally, its curiosity and desire to come in and see my two cats brought it inside, and I was able to get the door shut.Now the fun began - - it was scared to death of us, but wanted to be around my two cats, who in turn wanted NOTHING to do with the little intruder! What fun.....it would follow them around, they would hiss and run away, and it would keep on following. At one point, when it was stalking Carmichael, it sat on my foot; I took the opportunity to reach down and give it a head scritch, and it started purring - - until it realized it was a BIG OL' HUMAN doing that, and ran off.There was no way of getting close enough to see if it was male or female.....but we could definitely see its ribs, and little spine, and that there was some definite feeding that needed to be done. Lots of it. And soon.Finally, we were able to herd the little thing out to the garage, which is heated; we put out a litter box, some food and water, and a couple of soft old rugs. We figured it would be safe out there, and warm, and fed. It was late, and Mr. Dizzy had to go into work the following Saturday morning pretty early; we decided we would figure out what was going on once he got back home.To be continued.....
This week's 5 things are very special, very near and dear to my heart - - Today is my Wedding Anniversary! That being said, here are 5 things (out of too many to count!) that I am grateful for being married to the very special, totally amazing Mr. Dizzy:- He loves me, and is not afraid to say it or show it, in many, many little ways.
- Even though he had never been married before or ever had any kids of his own - - when we married, he took in my 12-year-old son as his own, and did the best he could helping me raise that young man.
- He lets me take care of him when he's sick, and is actually a pretty good patient!
- Even though he's mildly allergic, he lets me have cats in the house, because he knows how much I love them; says his allergy shots will take care of it.
- He trusts me, 100%, and appreciates that I trust him as well; we have vowed we will never, ever do anything to betray that trust.
Happy 24 years, my Dear Mr. Dizzy! You are the love of my life, my soulmate, my life partner - - I am looking forward to the next 24 years with you, and more!Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.
What a week this one has been as well! *whew*Here is what I am grateful for this week:- This week marked the END of Spring semester!
- This Friday was payday (finally!)
- Lunch with my best friend from Jr. High/High School who is back visiting our little home town from San Diego - - great being able to catch up with her!
- Had a GREAT month at the antique booth last month - - received a very nice check today.
- My favorite recipe (Crazy Aunt Purl's Pot Roast and Roasted Veggies) for Sunday dinner. So yum.
Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.
It's been a terribly rough week. It has made it extremely difficult to find 5 things to be grateful for, but here goes:- Spending time with my grandsons, being able to help them with their homework.
- Smiling while watching the grandsons outside "helping" Grandpa with yard work - - more of a hindrance than a help, but they sure do try hard!
- Connie's World Famous Chocolate Brownies - - both iced and uniced - - yum!
- A daughter-in-law who has turned out to be the daughter I never had. Love you, Dawn.
- With one week of my online class left, I am carrying a 100% average for all the Modules so far.
P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful, beautiful mothers out there. Give your Mom a BIG hug and tell her how much you love her while you can; I wish mine were still here so I could. Love you, Mom, and miss you.Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.
Things I am grateful for this week:- My Dad's continued good health! I have had 2 close friends lose their fathers in the past week, and attended visitations for both. Makes me appreciate my Dad even more!
- My grandson's knee NOT having a hairline fracture, and he is finally off his crutches! YAY!
- Adam, my former student worker and now Computer Tech Extraordinaire! He was able to fix my daughter-in-law's computer in less than an hour, for a very small amount of money - - Adam, you are the BEST!
- Kicking butt in Body Sculpt Class this week - - every week I can feel my muscles getting stronger and stronger; and, my clothes are fitting better also.
- Since rejoining the Gym, I'm am now down 10 pounds! YAY!
Count your blessings - - join Grace In Small Things.
